“1.2 million Americans have lost their jobs since the $800 billion stimulus package was signed into law. The Congressional Budget Office predicted it would shrink the economy ‘in the long run,’ but create jobs in the short run. But the stimulus package turned out to be harmful even in the short run, because it was so badly designed. It poured money into sectors of the economy where no help is needed because unemployment is low, while siphoning money out of sectors where unemployment is high.”

“Obama officials are already trying to hide behind [Supreme Court verdict] Massachusetts v. EPA, claiming ‘the Court made us do it.’ This excuse won’t wash. President Obama can protect consumers, jobs, and the economy from EPA regulatory excess any time he wants just by introducing stand-alone legislation to exclude carbon dioxide from regulation under [existing air quality laws]. Obama has not done so, because he is unwilling to let [greenhouse gas emissions bill] Waxman-Markey succeed or fail on its own merits. He wants the prospect of regulatory chaos to herd Republicans into the cap-and-trade corral. But Republicans can turn this weapon against those brandishing it just by refusing to share responsibility for policies they oppose.”

3. ENVIRONMENT

Computer giant Dell announces it will no longer export its recycling programs to developing countries.

“…it’s not clear that all these materials are recycled overseas in terrible and dangerous conditions. But as New York Times reporter Nicholas D. Kristof explains very well, even jobs under what we call ‘sweatshop conditions’ are a luxury compared to the ‘jobs’ people must take when those opportunities don’t exist. Where jobs are lacking, many people survive by digging for items in open dumps. Kristof notes: ‘Talk to these families in the dump, and a job in a sweatshop is a cherished dream, an escalator out of poverty.’ In many places, the other option for a young woman is a life of prostitution.”